Progression Reel for the stages Battle Academia Joke Animation went through. Hit me up if you have any thoughts are questions on the process!
This one was a fun (but long) one! Here I'm showing just one (my favorite) of the 3 text responses that Ezreal can receive after he texts Lux. This emote took several iterations to figure out how many faces/expressions would feel varied enough but not create too much work. A common visual in anime and manga are bold visual graphics and while League of Legends doesn't quite employ this visual style, we thought for the Battle Academia theme it'd appropriate to add speech bubbles and emotion VFX which are often used in comedic sections of anime.
I had a lot of fun planning out the more natural nature in which Ezreal types on his phone and sends the text in contrast to his reaction. Ezreal's movements when he is shocked by Lux's anger is very "stepped" and anti-gravity in contrast to the more grounded nature of the leading animation. Hopefully that stylistic change creates a comedic tension that drives the point home. The audio helps a lot to in communicating the beats and emotion. There are also a lot of small storytelling details here such as the keychain on his cell, which matches the keychain Lux has on her Battle Academia staff. winkwink.